“Lucky break,” the scorer sneered.
Mack waited until the refs turned away before shoving him aside. Talk about annoying.
“Hey!”
“Whatever.”
“Prick.”
“Momma’s boy.”
Mack dodged when the guy took a half-hearted swing at him. Which brought several comments from the stands: protests from the Burning Embers’ fans and cheers from the Top Cops’ side.
The idiot Mack had just shoved eyed Mack with clear derision. “I’ma momma’s boy? Really?” He nodded to the stands.
“You can do it, Mack!” Their mother frowned. “Xavier, be nice to your brother.”
Xavier smiled wide. “Sure thing, Ma.” Then he punched Mack in the arm.
Mack frowned, punched him back, and narrowly avoided a soccer ball to the face. Xavier wasn’t so lucky. He took the ball to the side of his head.
“Gee, that must have hurt.” Mack grinned at his brother swearing and shaking his head, no doubt to clear the ringing between his ears.
“Sorry, Xavier,” Carmichael called.
Mack chuckled, took the ball, and dribbled down the field. He pretended to pass to the center and juked Carmichael into tripping over her own feet. She went down in the mud.
Still laughing, Mack yelled over his shoulder, “Officer down!”
“Jackass!”
He passed to an open player and cheered his delight when their team scored, evening the game.
Turning, he found himself surrounded by muddy, burly police officers, Carmichael among them.
“What?”
“That was cheap,” she argued.
“Was it the ‘Officer down’ part or the part when you fell over your own feet? And wow, are you dirty.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the cops grab a handful of mud. Mack ducked behind Carmichael just as the guy slung it. He heard her gasp and saw she’d been hit in the chest. And what a sorry sight that was, obscuring anything so fine.
She glared at the offender, who startled whistling and quickly walked away.
Deciding that would be the smart move, Mack followed. But not before his brother tackled him to the ground and shoved his face in wet dirt and grass.
Mack retaliated. The rest of his team joined him, and the soccer game turned into a real free-for-all. Laughter, swearing, and a lot of mudslinging went both ways. Unfortunately, both teams ended up being disqualified for unsportsmanlike behavior—but only because some smartass had decked both refs with mud as well.
***
“What a great game,” Mack said as he and the guys joined their friends at the bleachers.
“Great but messy.” Brad, his buddy and part of their tight, four-man firefighting crew, looked down at himself with a frown.
His girlfriend rolled her eyes. “It’s just dirt, Brad.”
Brad blinked. “Oh?” Then he chased her around the field laughing maniacally.
